PA Payroll Exercise for Intermediate Excel

Follow the directions below to create a payroll exercise. Read through each individual
direction before performing it, like you are following recipe instructions.
Remember that to move between cells you can use your mouse, the arrow keys on the
keyboard, or the Name Box.
Remember, too, that there is usually more than one way to do something. If a different
way to do it occurs to you, go ahead and try it! If it doesn’t work, you can always click the
Undo button.
If you can’t remember what a button does, move the cursor over it and pause. A yellow
ToolTip will appear describing the button’s function.
The gray boxes will contain tips, suggestions, and reminders.
In the instructions, the following terms will be used:
Click – a single left mouse click.
Command - a button displayed on a tab on the Ribbon.
Key – a key on the keyboard.

Part 1: Opening the Excel Program & Entering the Information

1. Locate the Excel icon on the computer’s desktop and then double click on it to open
the program OR
2. Click on the Start button and locate the Excel program under All Programs and then
Microsoft Office. Click once on the name of the program, Microsoft Excel, to open it.
3. Enter the text in the designated cells. REMEMBER that you can move to the next cell
down by pressing the Enter key and you can move the next cell to the right by
pressing the Tab key. You can also select the cell you want to type in with a single
mouse click and then begin typing the text. Cell References are in Italics and cell
content is in Bold. Note that there is nothing entered in the cells in row 2.

A1 Employee Name B5 9
A3 Doe B6 11.25
A4 Jones B7 14.5 Don’t get
A5 Martin worried if it looks
A6 Smith C1 Regular Hours like the text you
A7 White C3 40 just typed has
A9 Totals C4 40 disappeared or
A11 Rates C5 40 doesn’t fit in the
cell. We will fix
A12 Federal Withholding C6 35
that later in the
A13 FICA C7 40 exercise.
A14 PA Withholding C12 0.15
A15 Local Withholding C13 0.065
A16 Overtime Factor C14 0.0307
C15 0.01
B1 Hourly Wage C16 1.5
B3 8.2
B4 9.45

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D1 Overtime Hours E1 Gross Pay
D3 0 F1 Fed. WH
D4 5 G1 FICA WH
D5 9 H1 PA WH
D6 0 I1 (letter I and number 1) Local WH
D7 1 J1 Total Withholding
K1 Net Pay

Part 2: Saving & Formatting the Worksheet

Saving the File for the First Time:
1. Click on the Office Button and then click on Save As from the drop down menu.
2. The Save As dialog box will open. Using the down arrow at the right end of the
Save in: text entry box, select the drive or folder from the drop down menu where
you wish to save the exercise by clicking on your choice.
3. In the File name: text box, delete Book1 and type in Payroll Register.
4. Click on the Save button in the bottom right corner of the Save As dialog box.
This has performed the initial save of the file. Further on in this exercise you will
be instructed to save updates to the file.

Making the Spreadsheet Readable, Uniform, and Pleasing to the Eye:

1. Select cells A1 thru K1. Click on the dialog box launcher in
the Font, Alignment, or Number group on the Home tab.
Dialog Box
2. When the Format Cells dialog box opens, click on the
Launcher
Alignment tab. In the Text alignment section there are two drop down
menus. Under Horizontal:, click the down arrow at the end of the box and click on
Center. Under Vertical:, click the down arrow at the end of the box and click on
Center. Also, click in the checkbox next to Wrap Text toward the bottom of the
screen. Do NOT click on the OK button at this time.
3. With the Format Cells dialog box still open, click on the Font tab. Under the Font:
area, use the scroll bar and click on Tahoma. On the Font style: menu, click on
Bold. Do NOT click on the OK button at this time.
4. Click on the Border tab. In the Line Style:
section click once on the line in the second
column five lines down. Next, click on the
preset button that shows just a line at the
bottom. (See picture to the right.)
5. Now, click on the OK button.
6. Select cells B3 thru B9 and click on the
dialog box launcher in the Font, Alignment,
or Number group. Click on the Number tab.
Under Category:, click on Accounting and
accept the default settings by clicking on the
OK button.
7. Select cells E3 thru K9. Follow step 6 above
to format these cells for Accounting.
8. Select cells C9 thru D9. Follow step 6 above

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 to format these cells for Accounting.
9. Select cells C12 thru C15. Click on the dialog box launcher in the Number group
and make sure you are on the Number tab when it opens. Under Category:, click
on Percentage and accept the default settings by clicking on the OK button.
10. You may need to resize certain columns to adjust how the text is shown in the
cells. To do this, position your mouse pointer over the vertical line separating
the columns in the light blue header area where the column letters are
displayed. When it changes to a two headed arrow, double click. This will
automatically resize the column to the left to fit the longest text in that column.
11. Update the version of your file saved by clicking on the Office Button and Save
from the drop down menu.

Part 3: Creating a Formula with an Absolute Reference

1. Select cell E3. The formula in this cell needs to calculate the Gross Pay, the
paycheck amount before taxes are taken out. Gross Pay = (Hourly Wage times
Regular Hours) + (Hourly Wage times the Overtime Factor times Overtime
Hours).
2. To enter this formula into cell E3, begin by pressing the = key on the keyboard.
Using your mouse, click on cell B3 and then press the * key on the keyboard.
Using your mouse, now click on cell C3 and then press the + key on the
keyboard. Using your mouse, click on cell B3 and press the * key. Using your
mouse, click on cell C16 and press the * key. Using your mouse, click on cell D3
and press the Enter key on your keyboard.
3. To check your formula, click once again on cell E3. The formula in cell E3 should
read =B3*C3+B3*C16*D3. The formula in cell E3 will need to be changed
before being copied to cells E4 to E7. All of the cell references are currently
Relative which means they will change when copied. In the formula, cell C16
needs to stay C16 which means the cell reference must be changed to an
Absolute reference.
4. While still in cell E3, position your mouse pointer over the C16 in the Formula bar
and single click. Move the insertion point using the arrow keys on the keyboard
as needed and type a $ to the left of the C and to the left of the 16.
5. When your formula has been changed to Clicking on the
=B3*C3+B3*$C$16*D3, click on the checkmark in front checkmark on the
of the Formula bar. Formula bar is the
6. With cell E3 still selected, position your mouse pointer same as pressing
over the Fill handle (the little black square in the lower Enter on your
right hand corner of the active cell). When your mouse keyboard except that
pointer changes to a thin black cross, click and drag to you remain in the cell
copy the formula in cell E3 to cells E4 thru E7. instead of moving to
7. Your worksheet should now look like this: the cell below.

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Part 4: Entering the Remaining Formulas for Taxes and Net Pay
Formulas may be entered by typing the cell references or by using the Point and
Click method used in Part 3 above. Using either method, enter the formulas below
into their corresponding cells. Cell References are in Italics and cell content is in
Bold. After typing the formula into the cell, copy the formula to the cells indicated in
the last column by using the Fill handle as described in step 6 above.
Cell Enter FormulaCopy Formula To Cells Rates used
from Cell for taxes
F3 =E3*$C$12 F3 F4 to F7 are for
G3 =E3*$C$13 G3 G4 to G7 example
H3 =E3*$C$14 H3 H4 to H7 only!!
I3 =E3*$C$15 I3 I4 to I7
J3 =F3+G3+H3+I3 J3 J4 to J7
K3 =E3-J3 K3 K4 to K7

Part 5: Entering the Sum Functions

Row 9 will contain totals for each column. Instead of using a formula as you did in
cells J3 to J7, you will use the Sum function. Remember that functions can be copied
just like formulas.
1. Select cell B9. Click on the AutoSum command in the Editing group on the
Home tab on the Ribbon.
2. Excel will automatically fill in cell B9 with the
function =SUM(B3:B8). Press the Enter key on
your keyboard to accept this function as is.
3. Click on cell B9 again. Using the Fill handle in the
lower right hand corner of cell B9 with the thin
black cross mouse pointer, click and drag to copy
the function from cell B9 to cells C9 thru K9. If you
see #### in cells E9 and K9, you will need to
adjust the width of columns E and K.

Part 6: Entering Additional Functions

1. Enter the following information in the cells indicated:
Cell Content
J11 Maximum
J12 Minimum
J13 Average
J14 Count
2. Select cell K11. In this cell, a function will be entered to show the maximum, or
highest, Net Pay.
3. In the Editing group on the Home tab, click the down arrow to the right of the
AutoSum command. Click on Max from the drop down menu.

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4. Excel will always try to guess to which cells to apply a function. In this case, it
guesses wrong. To change the cells used in the function, with your mouse
pointer select cells K3 thru K7. The contents of cell K11 should now read
=MAX(K3:K7). Press the Enter key on the keyboard.
5. Select cell K12. In this cell, a function will be entered to show the minimum, or
lowest, Net Pay. In the Editing group again, click the down arrow to the right of
the AutoSum command. Click on Min from the drop down menu.
6. With your mouse pointer, select cells K3 thru K7. The contents of cell K12 should
now read =MIN(K3:K7). Press the Enter key.
7. Select cell K13. In this cell, a function will be entered to show the average Net
Pay. In the Editing group again, click the down arrow to the right of the AutoSum
command. Click on Average from the drop down menu.
8. With your mouse pointer, select cells K3 thru K7. The contents of cell K13 should
now read =AVERAGE(K3:K7). Press the Enter key.
9. Select cell K14. In this cell, a function will be entered to count the number of
paychecks. In the Editing group again, click the down arrow to the right of the
AutoSum command. Click on Count Numbers from the drop down menu.
10. With your mouse pointer, select cells K3 thru K7. The contents of cell K14 should
now read =COUNT(K3:K7). Press the Enter key.
11. Click on the Office Button and Save from the drop down menu to update the
version saved of your worksheet.

Your finished worksheet should look like this:

PC Center
at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
www.carnegielibrary.org/locations/pccenter
412-578-2561 – Main Library
412-363-6105 – East Liberty
6/11/2008 5